Dour Festival: DAY #1
July 24th, 2009 | Published in Music Photography
4pm.
I circle around looking for parking C while the 5 stages of Dour Festival are already filled with music lovers from all over the world.
First steps in what they call “La Plaine” (The Field) and two things directly come up to my mind: “it’s hot!” and “cute girls everywhere”!
I run and try to catch the last moments of Bony King of Nowhere’s show. I get backstage, take a quick picture of him and go back wander around in “La Plaine”, enjoying the weather and the unknown but awesome music coming out of “The Magic Tent”, one of Dour’s 5 stages (5 stages on Thursday and 6 stages for the other days).
Today’s line-up is full of reggae/ska/French music. I decide to go see Fatals Picards playing on the main stage (Last Arena), a French ska/reggae/punk band who represented France at 2007’s “Eurovision” contest (it’s like the World Series but for European Music). They’re definitely more of a “fun band” than anything else but the crowd seems to like it, especially the hardcore punks who jump and moshpit despite the sun. I go backstage, take a quick photo. The singer won’t look at me, he’s too busy complaining things that bothered him during the concert. I finally get a little bit of his attention and click, it’s in the box: nothing extraordinary but it’s better than nothing.
The next band on that same stage is called Saule Et Les Pleureurs, a band from.. here, right here actually. Their set is flat and repetitive. Because it’s a local band the crowd is relatively small though they all seem to know the lyrics by heart.
I leave the “Last Arena” and go back to The Magic Tent where Cocoon, a French folk band again, is playing a really cute and romantic set.
No time to take picture, I go back to the Last Arena where Tryo is about to take the stage. Tryo is, again, a French reggae band. They became famous 8 years ago with their tube “La Main Verte” (“The Green Hand”), a militant song about marijuana. The crowd is going wild, screaming their lungs out and even singing along on the most famous songs.
End of the set. The next band is American, from Philly. I don’t think I need to give you a detailed description of Santi White’s band: Santigold. She seems really motivated and plays with the crowd. Santi and her band play all the tubes from Lights Out to L.E.S. Artistes. It starts to rain but the crowd will not leave the open-air stage: Santigold is here to warm everybody. She leaves “La Plaine” after an energetic set.
1am. MSTRKRFT is about to go crazy in the Club Circuit Marquee. I get a little bit disappointed by their performance. It feels like I’m in a Webster Hall party (New York famous club in the East Village) more than a set of two of the most famous DJs in the world in one of the world’s biggest festivals. Too bad, I leave and wander around. La Plaine has turned into a big electronic party: MSTRKRFT here, Dr. Lektroluv there, some Drum’n’Bass here, some Dub there. The loud bass is resonating in my ears.
5am. It’s time to sleep, tomorrow is going to be a big day. What I’ll remember from today: the nice people, reggae is actually really cool in a festival like this, the beer is actually really good, the food is okay, lots lots lots of people, good music, good vibes!
Tryo
Les Fatals Picards
Crowd of Dour Festival 2009 (DAY #1)
